MADISON, Ala. – An all-around team effort led No. 17 Auburn to a 13-1 run-rule victory against North Alabama Tuesday night in front of nearly 5,500 fans at Toyota Field in Madison, Ala.
"I have to give our team a lot of credit, especially after Sunday, for the good bounce back," head coach Butch Thompson said. "We really talked about trying to come out today a fight a little bit, and that's about as good of baseball as we can play at this stage of the season."
At the plate, the Tigers tallied a season high 13 runs on 15 hits despite coming to the plate just six times in the seven-inning affair.
"It's important to approach it one game at a time, not to get too carried away, and I think we did a great job of that tonight," Bobby Peirce said. "None through nine we swung it really well, had a lot of hard-hit balls. From a pitching standpoint I don't think we walked anybody. They were awesome pounding the zone."
On the mound, the pitching trio of Konner Copeland, John Armstrong and Chase Isbell allowed one run on five hits and didn't walk a batter while striking out 12.
"It doesn't matter what day of the week we're playing, there's only one game to play," Thompson added. "It should be the game like we're trying to play for the World Series, a SEC game. That's what I liked, the attention to detail here on a Tuesday."
Peirce and Bryson Ware led the way from the plate, going a combined 6-for-7 with two homers and six RBI. Peirce went 3-for-4 with two runs, a homer and three RBI, while Ware went 3-for-3 with a bunt single, double, homer, sacrifice fly and three RBI.
"Like Coach Gross says, I'm just trying to be an athlete and get lost in playing the game," Ware said. "I'm just trying to do all things for my team to help us win. Whatever the game calls for is what I'm trying to do right now."
Auburn (3-1) jumped out to a big lead by plating six in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and nobody out, SEC Co-Freshman of the Week Ike Irish picked up where he left off last weekend and got the scoring started with a RBI single to right, his first of three more hits in the game. Ware doubled the lead with a sacrifice fly to center. Seeing their first action of the season, Ryan Dyal made it 3-0 with a single to center before Madison, Ala., native Cam Hill drove in a pair with a single to nearly the same spot. Kason Howell capped off the six-run first with a RBI fielder's choice to shortstop.
Making his first start of the season and third of his Auburn career, Copeland (1-0, 2.45) retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced with six coming via the strikeout. His six strikeouts through 3.0 innings were two shy of his Auburn career best.
The Tigers extended their lead with three more in the third. Peirce got things started with a two-RBI single to left, and Brody Moss drove in his first run of the season with a sacrifice fly to center.
North Alabama (1-3) was able to get on the scoreboard in the top of fourth, and the Tigers turned to John Armstrong as the first reliever out of the bullpen. After striking out his batter to end the fourth, Armstrong worked a scoreless fifth before Peirce hit his first homer of the season to make a 10-1 game in the home half of the frame.
Armstrong turned it over to Isbell in the sixth, and the Tigers tacked on three more in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead to 12. Ware's two-run shot over the pavilion in left field put the Tigers over the 10-run threshold, and Chris Stanfield drove in the final run of the game on his first career hit.
Isbell returned to the mound in the seventh and finished things off with an immaculate inning – three strikeouts on nine pitches.
"It was topped off by Chase Isbell," Thompson said. "That may have been the best couple of innings I've seen him throw in his Auburn career in his second year. All the way around that was a great bounce back."
Due to the weather forecast in the Los Angeles area, this weekend's series between No. 17 Auburn and Southern California has been moved to Plainsman Park. First pitches are scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. CT, Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
All-around effort leads No. 17 Auburn to run-rule of North Alabama
